Jerry Osteryoung’s tale of poor customer service at a local tuxedo shop highlights some important things you need to remember with your business:

The most surprising thing was that the management was not concerned about how I was feeling. The manager only cared about the position of the company. This indicated that top managers had no way to measure or evaluate the effectiveness of their sales staff other than the bottom line.

You can’t measure your success unless you take a look outside your doors at your customers. Are they satisfied? Don’t rely on arbitrary measurements or numbers to determine your success. Empower your employees to succeed by serving the customer effectively.

Although the bottom line is important, you have to ensure that your customer service exceeds your customers’ expectations or you will not get repeat customers and your bottom line will be affected.

Don’t get so wrapped up in the bottom line that you forget who gets you there. Your customers are the key to your financial success. Make sure that you set up your business and policies to encourage total customer satisfaction. This will, in turn, lead to an increasing bottom line.

My saga has continued with Office Depot. Today I called customer service for the third time to find out what was going on with my filing cabinet. The representative today was rather clueless and put me on hold while she conversed with her supervisor. I was on hold for a few minutes and was then disconnected.

Accidents Happen

I understand that problems happen. You must take responsibility and explain to the customer what is happening. Don’t give up and run away by hanging up or avoiding the customer! If for some reason you are disconnected; call the customer back.

We’ll see if Office Depot remedies the situation. They could surely learn a lesson or two from Travelocity. Unfortunately, 3 strikes and you’re out. I called my credit card company and had them refund my money and go up to bat for me. Don’t forget that your customers will often try to work with you to solve problems. They understand that there may be problems but they also want speedy resolution. If you don’t deliver, you’ll lose money and customers.

A successful BMW dealer Ng Ah Tong teaches us a few things about happy customers:

A salesman who has a satisfied customer will immediately get ten more new ones as the word of mouth is more effective than any type of advertising.

However, if a customer is unhappy with your services and products, then you will immediately lose ten potential clients

When you are serving your clients, you are really sowing the seeds of future business. The experience that your customers have today will determine if they will do business with you again. Provide your clients with such a stellar experience that they have no choice but to sing your praises to all their friends.

Ng continues:

Customers want all sorts of things and it is our responsibility to attend to their problems.

You must cultivate your relationships with your customers. This often involves problem solving. You need to identify the issue, help the customer see you understand their situation, and present a solution. Every customer is different and you’ll need to tailor your actions to fit each individual’s needs.

Ng has been very successful with his approach:

If our customers are happy with us, they will continue to deal with us. In fact, more than 60% of our BMW customers are repeat buyers

Remember that word of mouth can draw in new customers or it can bite you bad and scare away countless prospects. How many of your customers are return customers? Are you even keeping track? You must keep a record of where your customers originate so that you can determine if you are driving repeat business.

As I mentioned yesterday, I had to call Office Depot to report my filing cabinet was damaged on delivery.

I explained my problem to the customer service representative and then was put on hold and waited for several minutes interrupted by the representative asking for forgiveness. She reports that her computer system is not responding and she can’t look up my invoice. I ask to be transferred to another rep but she tells me that everyone is having trouble.

At this point, the woman on the other end of the phone doesn’t really know what to do. She gets my name and invoice number and says unconvincingly that she’ll get this processed when the system comes back up. She adds that I should call back to make sure that my return is being processed. When I hung up the phone, I realized that my problem had not been solved and I had no confidence that it would without another call to customer service.

Do you know what to do when the computer is down?

The more you rely on computers to run your business, the more you need to have a contingency plan for when they are not available. Train your people to still act calmly and assuredly when their system is down. Make sure that the customer issues will be addressed and that the customer is confident that their problem will be solved.

Pen and Paper

When all else fails, go old school and pull out the paper and pen. They worked for hundreds of years and will work for you in a pinch.

I purchased a filing cabinet from Office Depot last week. They didn’t have any in stock, so they promised to deliver it the next day. Sure enough, the big truck pulled up outside and they brought in my filing cabinet in a big box. The driver promptly made me sign a form saying I received the item and they were quickly on their way.

I didn’t get around to opening the box until the next day. And much to my chagrin, there was a big dent on the side of my filing cabinet. So I call up customer service and it appears they’ll come back out and bring me a new one.

Wouldn’t it have been easier to simply take the cabinet out of the box and let me visually inspect it before leaving? This would have saved the extra hassle of me calling to arrange another delivery.

In your business, don’t leave a customer your product or complete your service without being totally sure the customer is satisfied. Odds are you can fix the problem right then and there. This will make you look responsive and will leave a good impression on your client.

Update: More lessons from Office Depot:

• Do you have a contingency plan?
• Don’t hang up!

Wal-Mart versus Target

I prefer shopping at Target for several reasons:

• Target is less crowded
• Target has cleaner aisles
• Target has shorter checkout lines

These same reasons I shop at Target effect your customers. Let’s extract the principles here:

Create a Comfortable Customer Experience

Make your client feel like the star of the show. Each client has individual needs, expectations, and budgets. If you take time to focus on each person that walks through your door, you can create a very comfortable experience for them. The more at home a client is, the more likely they will trust you, place an order, and come back again. Whenever I think of going to Wal-Mart, I think of a crazy, crowded, mess of people. When I think of Target, I think of easily being able to locate what I need without tripping over assorted products scattered on the floor. The result: Target gets more of my money. Create a comfortable customer experience in your business.

Present a Professional Image

Just as retail stores present their image to you the second you walk into the store, your business presents its images to clients in several ways:

Your Website

People reach your website for any number of reasons. They could come in via a search engine, from a link on another site, or even by typing in your domain name like returncustomer.com. Irregardless of how they arrive, they will judge your company by what they see. Does your website convey authority and professionalism in your field? Does it look like your 5 year old nephew created your site? First impressions matter online. You have only seconds to let your customers know they can trust you.

Draw some connections with my experience at Target and what customers see on your site:

• Target is less crowded: Do visitors to your site get information overload?
• Target has cleaner aisles: Is your website design clear and inviting?
• Target has shorter checkout lines: Does your site respond quickly and is it always available?

Your Personal Appearance: Dress and Grooming

Many businesses require you meet and interact personally with clients. It is imperative that you are physically prepared for any meetings with clients. Once again, let’s look at the Target analogy:

• Target is less crowded: Do your clients feel like they have your undivided attention? Do you make eye contact when you talk to people?
• Target has cleaner aisles: Are you dressed appropriately? Do your employees have company uniforms that identify them as your representatives? Make sure you are well dressed and present a professional image.
• Target has shorter checkout lines: You need to respect your customer’s time. Do you arrive on time to appointments? Do you meet your deadlines?

Are your aisles clean?

Take a look at your store, yourself, your presentations, and your marketing materials. Is everything clean and professional? If not, pull out the broom, get a haircut, or spruce up your website. Act and look like the professional you are and your clients will treat you as such.

I received this little gem in my weekly newsletter from MarketingSherpa.com:

Lesson #5. Current customers equal best customers

Marketers seem to want to disprove this fact. They look at the
people who aren’t buying and think, “Look at all that potential!”

But … a company’s best prospects are their best [current] customers.

Don’t forget your current customers

We’ve talked about building customer relationships before. However, you’ll never fortify these bonds if you forget all about your existing customer base. Your current clients are those that got you to where you are today. They trust you enough to remain faithful to your company and continue to give you money. Don’t forget them!

Turn your customers into return customers

Since your existing customers already are familiar with your business and services they have one less barrier to overcome before spending more money with you. Odds are they already trust you and if they have been satisfied so far with your service, they can easily be converted into return customers. Maybe you can sell them the same service or product again. Or if the opportunity exists, you can up sell them to a new product or service you are offering.

In my web design business, I’ve had several clients for years that trust me explicitly with their sites. In their eyes, I am the expert and they will usually accept the advice I offer them even if that means that they’ll need to pay me a little more money. Since I am familiar with their businesses and needs, it is easier to see where the potential lies. I present them with solutions and turn my clients into return customers.

Take a look at your customer base. Do any of your current clients need another product or service you offer? Remember that repeat customers drive profitability and get to work!

Recent research indicates that most online shoppers take their time in deciding what to buy. So what does this mean to your business?

Help customers compare products

Provide the information people are seeking to distinguish the subtle differences between your products and services. This can be done with tables or charts very easily. A good example of this is 37Signals’ comparison chart for their nifty Basecamp project management application.

Let customers save their selections for later

Amazon.com is the master of this principle. You can leave items in your shopping cart. You can create wishlists of products you’d like. In short, you can window shop at your leisure and come back and easily make the purchase.

How do you handle window shoppers?

Is your site window shopper friendly? Shoppers seek information to help validate their purchase decision. If you don’t educate the customer on your product or service, they will never feel confident enough to buy. What improvements could you make to your site to help encourage window shoppers? Ask these questions:

• Is there enough information on my website to set myself apart from the competition?
• Can visitors to my site describe my products or services to someone else after reading the site?
• Do shopper additions to their shopping cart stay put for a reasonable amount of time or do they get lost the second the person leaves the site?
• Do you provide pictures, measurements, shipping information, return policies, contact information, etc. on your site?

If customers can’t see through your window to shop, they’ll never come in to buy. Give your potential customers the information they seek and allow them to return and easily convert that original “maybe” into a purchase.

The Motley Fool takes a look at online retailer RedEnvelope and makes an important point about repeat customers:

If too many previous customers don’t become repeat buyers — for reasons ranging from unchanging inventory to too-high price points — the company will likely never reach significant levels of profitability.

Keeping your current customers is cheaper than finding and converting new ones. Are you paying enough attention to your current clients? If not, your business may be in financial trouble.

What have you done for me lately?

All businesses require constant innovation and new products to succeed. If you remain stagnate, the world will pass you by. Take a fresh look at what your customers are trying to accomplish. Do they have needs that you aren’t filling? Develop a product or service that plugs that hole and you’ll be even more successful.

How much are you charging?

There are customers that will always turn up their noses at your prices. Nevertheless, if 75% or more of your potential clients are scoffing at your prices, they are too high.

I always make my bank deposits via their ATM. This is so I can make them at anytime of day and at my convenience. Nevertheless, I never want to be waiting at the ATM as there are always news reports about robberies happening during that time. So my goal is to get in, and get out as quickly as possible.

If you already know the answer, don’t ask the question.

When I make my deposit, the ATM always asks me into what account I want to deposit the money. I only have one account! If the computer is smart enough to recognize my account information, it should know that I only have one account and should automatically answer that question for me.

Perform sanity checks on your automated processes

What kind of questions do you ask on your website or in your software? Do your customers have to answer redundant or irrelevant questions? Keep your process as efficient as possible from the customer’s perspective. Skip questions they don’t need to answer. Default answers for questions to which you already know the answers.